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THE 1974 RESTRAINT SYSTEMS: AN EVALUATION

How well do the restraint systems in 1974-model cars perform, compared to those in 1973-model cars. This was the subject of a study conducted at the U-M Highway Safety Research Institute in 1974 and 1975 under sponsorship of the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association. In early 1974 an accident investigation sampling plan was designed by 1975, field teams at HSRI and the CALSPAN Corporation collected data on crash-involved 1973- and 1974-model cars. Teams at the Southwest Research Institute under NHTSA sponsorship used a similar sampling plan to investigate cases in Texas during the same period. Those data were furnished HSRI for analysis along with the data collected in Michigan and New York. The study was designed to establish whether front-seat occupants were using the restraint system at the time of the crash, and what types and severities of injuries the occupants incurred. To limit the quanitity of accident cases to a number that could be investigated by existing teams at HSRI and CALSPAN, the sampling plan called for investigation of all crashes in which a 1973- or 1974-model car was towed from the scene and an occupant was taken to a hospital, plus a certain percentage of such towaway accidents not involving the removal of an occupant to a hospital. Fifty percent of all "nonhospital" towaway 1974-model accidents were investigated, and 33 percent of all "nonhospital" towaway 1973-model accidents.